Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Yarmouth
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Yarmouth restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 26 restaurants in Yarmouth and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Yarmouth restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Yarmouth Restaurants
1. Cambium
British, Modern restaurant in Brockenhurst
Lyndhurst Rd - SO42
2023 Review: ‘Dylan James’s dishes pay homage to the British countryside, and embrace the nature of the seasons’ – well that’s what the website says! – at this “lovely restaurant in a beautiful hotel”: a New Forest destination that started life as a royal hunting lodge and is nowadays a luxurious spa complex. Reports in our annual diners’ poll agree, all of them applauding its attractive, light interior and brasserie food from an all-day menu that’s “carefully cooked, and good value”.
2. Geranium Restaurant at The Royal
British, Traditional restaurant in Ventnor
Belgrave Rd - PO38
“Sit in chandeliered grandeur in the dining room, or enjoy your food whilst looking out of the conservatory over the garden” when you dine at this grande old dame of a hotel. Too limited feedback for a rating in our annual diners’ poll on the à la carte fare, which is more posh brasserie (fresh fish, rump steak, risotto) than it is particularly ‘haute’.
3. Chewton Glen
British, Modern restaurant in New Milton
Chewton Glen Rd - BH23
“Five-star service and food on the South Coast”, say fans of this “special” venue – a famous Relais & Châteaux property, set in gorgeous grounds on the edge of the New Forest and 30 minutes’ drive from Bournemouth: the “perfect hotel to be spoilt in with its lovely summery restaurant and first-class staff”. Perennial gripes about high prices here were absent this year, and Luke Matthews’s cuisine won nothing but praise. Top Tip – “The lunch menu is very good value”; and “the quality and quantity of afternoon tea here is so very impressive – we didn’t need dinner!!”
4. The Jetty
British, Modern restaurant in Christchurch
95 Mudeford - BH23
This “top spot” – a modern, glass-walled venue with a terrace for outdoor dining at a “lovely location on Christchurch Harbour” (in the grounds of the Harbour Hotel and with superb views) – is an ideal showcase for chef Alex Aitken’s “consistently high-quality, locally sourced seafood”.
5. The Terrace, Montagu Arms Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Beaulieu
The extensive House Menu can be enjoyed wherever you feel most comfortable. Whether that’s with the family in tow at our country pub, Monty’s, alfresco in our English country garden or in our smart wood-panelled dining room, The Terrace.
6. The George Hotel
Mediterranean restaurant in Yarmouth
Quay Street - PO41
2023 Review: A “glorious summer lunch spot” – “if the sun is shining you could be in the South of France drinking rosé and eating lovely – if somewhat pricey – seafood to the soundtrack of Dmitri from Paris”. The seventeenth-century hotel is run by Prince Harry’s pal Howard Spooner, who last year won a High Court battle against his former business partner Sally Johnson, following the pair’s failed attempt to turn The George into a celebrity retreat for A-listers, including old rockers, yachtsmen, polo players and wealthy Americans.
7. Elderflower
British, Modern restaurant in Lymington
4-5 Quay St - SO41
“A set selection with superb balance of flavours and textures” (with options “you might not ordinarily choose”) makes for “very interestingly presented and great-tasting food” (“we even ate a tulip!”) according to fans of the “amazing tasting menus” at Andrew & Marjolaine du Bourg’s “professional” fine-dining venue in a pretty cobbled street, near the harbour. “Too many elements on a plate” can leave some diners feeling “confused”, though (“lovely people, who are trying very hard but we thought the food was unnecessarily complicated”).
8. Samphire at Stanwell House
British, Modern restaurant in Lymington
14-15 High Street - SO41
“The new kid on the block”, this ambitious new restaurant opened in November 2022 in a “boutique hotel on Lymington’s High Street” that had been closed for a year-long renovation. It has quickly established a solid reputation for its “simply prepared and beautifully presented fish, straight from the local boats”.
9. Verveine Fishmarket Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Milford-on-Sea
98 High St - SO41
“Constantly innovative, super-fresh fish dishes” from chef-patron David Wykes have established this “small, warm space” with an in-house fishmonger as a true “destination restaurant”, invariably hailed as a “great discovery” by first-time visitors. The “outstanding tasting menus” are presented in an unusual format, with guests nominating the number of courses but not their content. They arrive with “imaginative accompaniments” and “charming, attentive service”.
10. Pebble Beach
French restaurant in Barton-on-Sea
Marine Drive - BH25
This “excellent beachside restaurant” from experienced chef Andy Waters – one of the few in Britain to have worked under the late, great Paul Bocuse in Lyons – has a fitting focus on “good fish”, alongside classic pasta dishes and steaks. The terrace has lovely views across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.
11. The Pig
British, Modern restaurant in Brockenhurst
Beaulieu Road - SO42
“The setting is off the charts” at the New Forest original of Robin Hutson’s shabby-chic country house hotel group (which was sold to private equity in late 2022) – “a beautiful manor house with incredible gardens and a fascinating, walled kitchen garden”. “Finally made it here for my wife’s birthday this year: we’ll definitely be returning!”. The food (better rated this year) is generally considered “fine” or better, albeit “with the continuous expansion of the chain, the meals become a little more hotel-like – though we certainly enjoyed our visit”.
12. The Kitchen at Chewton Glen
British, Modern restaurant in New Milton
Chewton Farm Road - BH23
“Showing that the food doesn’t have to be fancy to be good” – fans applaud the “great menu of varied choices” in the relaxed alternative eatery of this famous country-house hotel, whose menu line-up includes posh burger and pizza options. The addition was completed a few years ago and is an attractive modern space with pitched roof, whose features include views over the kitchen gardens, an outdoor terrace and a cookery school overseen by James Martin. An “ideal venue for a special occasion – expensive, but worth it”.
13. Hartnett Holder & Co
Italian restaurant in Lyndhurst
Beaulieu Rd - SO43
“The Italian-style food is a treat to behold” at this out-of-town retreat from Anglo-Italian chef Angela Hartnett (of Murano in Mayfair) with chef Luke Holder, in a New Forest hotel that’s “a place to be seen in, for a special occasion”. “Full of character and brimming with fine furnishings”, it’s “a beautiful venue for a (pricey) treat”, although lapses drag the ratings down: more critical diners feel “it’s a very good restaurant, but it never seems to get everything completely right at the same time!” and service in particular can be “surprisingly varied”. Top Tip – “ask for a table in the more attractive main room when booking”.
14. The Kings Arms Hotel
restaurant in Christchurch
18 Castle Street - BH23
A good position in the town centre and on the River Avon only adds to the appeal of this substantial Georgian property – nowadays a luxurious four-star hotel. The restaurant is overseen by Alex Aitken of the nearby Jetty and provides some surprisingly affordable options, including “a daily changing £17.50 two-course market menu with ingredients sourced within 15 miles”. (Some change may be afoot, though, as in June 2023 the owners since 2005 put the property on the market.)
15. Captain's Club Hotel & Spa
British, Modern restaurant in Christchurch
Wick Ferry, Wick Lane - BH23
2023 Review: “A wonderful waterside location” is the crown jewel feature of this “relaxed and unhurried” modern hotel dining room – the location overlooking boats on the Stour “makes the restaurant a romantic venue and if weather permits being seated outside is a bonus”. “Lovely food” too – “well presented and reasonably priced”.
16. Restaurant Roots
British, Modern restaurant in Southbourne
141 Belle Vue Road - BH6
“Still blown away with Jan & Stacey’s ability to deliver top-quality food and service” is a typical report on the Bretschneiders’ very focused small restaurant, now in its ninth year. Berlin-born Jan’s “very personal” tasting menu (eight courses for £95 per person, or twelve courses for £150 per person), which is also available in a “wonderful veggie version”, comes “with notes about his childhood that led to the thought process behind the dish”. The couple have also opened the more casual (but still ambitious) Cork & Lobster next door.
17. Spot in the Woods
British, Modern restaurant in Woodlands
174 Woodlands Rd, Netley Marsh, New Forest - SO40
2021 Review: “TerraVina’s resurrection” – “in its new guise as a boutique B&B and café” – “has become a real favourite in the beautiful New Forest”. Founder Gerard Basset, the famed wine expert behind the original Hotel du Vin, died in January 2019 after a two-year fight against cancer, and his widow Nina has kept the business going. There are “no evening meals now, but breakfasts and lunches are splendid” and “in summer it’s lovely to sit in the garden”.
18. The Terrace
British, Modern restaurant in Yarmouth
Quay Street - PO41
2023 Review: This “fab” harbourside wine bar-bistro “with gorgeous views across the Solent” has three glass shelters on its eponymous terrace, so you can eat outside in all seasons. The menu highlight is steaks from retired dairy cows from the island’s Briddlesford Farm, hung for 40 days and cooked to medium for the ‘tangy, rich and yellow fat to melt nicely’.
19. Rivaaz
Indian restaurant in Lymington
7 Saint Thomas Street - SO41
“An absolute gem of an Indian” that’s “always busy with a great atmosphere” and “well worth a visit” for its “fantastic food” and “superb staff who really know their menu” (no wonder it has snaffled the Asian Curry Awards’ ‘Best Asian Restaurant on the South Coast of England’ title for five years running).
20. Britannia Thai
Thai restaurant in Milford-on-Sea
1 High Street - SO41
2023 Review: “Amazing food, speedy and accurate service, with no frills”: this family-run Thai (with a second branch in Brockenhurst) is “exactly what you’d want from a mid-week outing” – “even our Thai friends think it’s exceptional”. Top Tip – “the fish dishes are fabulous”.
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